Protestors Out In Force Before Super Bowl Kickoff

Super Bowl XXVI - Insider

More than 2,000 demonstrators circled the Metrodome before the Super Bowl on Sunday to protest the use of American Indian nicknames and mascots in sports.

The protest began about four hours before the game, as thousands of colorfully dressed Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills fans waited for the Metrodome gates to open.

A handful of Indians stood by a 20-foot-tall tepee erected just outside one of the Dome's gates and told Super Bowl fans that Redskins is the most derogatory nickname in sports. They later were joined by hundreds of sign-toting protesters who marched about three miles from an American Indian headquarters building.

They followed a sign that read, ''Indians are a people, not mascots for America's fun and games.''

The protesters sold T-shirts that read on the front: ''Stupid Bowl - Racist Mascots Must Go.''

''This is Indian territory. We don't tolerate racism here,'' said Vernon Bellecourt, a leader of the Minneapolis-based American Indian Movement. ''Stop showing disrespect for our culture. Please leave our culture and spiritual symbols alone.''

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

BARRY BERKOVITZ would have liked to have spent the day inside the Metrodome. Instead, he spent much of it in his tow truck two blocks away. ''It would have been nice to be in the Dome, sipping on a beer watching the game. But this is OK,'' said Berkovitz, a mechanic for Amoco. Berkovitz and three other mechanics were braced to rescue any forlorn fans who may have locked themselves out of their cars, run out of gas or needed a jump start. His colleague, Jim Mullen, said he was still kind of thrilled to be so close to it all. ''At least we're closer to the action than a lot of people will ever get. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.''

WEIGHTLESS TOSS

DISCOVERY'S ASTRONAUTS demonstrated a coin toss in weightlessness before millions of earthbound football fans during the Super Bowl pregame show. Astronaut Roberta Bondar held the coin in her right hand as she flipped herself in cartwheels 187 miles above Earth. She released the coin, and it floated away. The crew said it appeared to be heads.

SNOW SCENE

A MALFUNCTIONING modulator, a device that feeds television signals to subscribers, gave viewers of the CBS channel on Storer Cable TV a scene of snow, not the Super Bowl pregame programming 30 minutes before kickoff. The company discovered the problem at 5:40 p.m. after fielding about 70 calls. The problem was corrected by 6:10 p.m. Storer serves about 16,000 subscribers in Altamonte Springs, Lake Mary and unincorporated Seminole County.

TRUMP CARD

WITH NOTHING else to do, quarterbacks Vinny Testaverde, Boomer Esiason and John Elway were modeling suits at the Minneapolis Convention Center before the game. They were forgotten, however, when Muhammad Ali showed up.

PARTY FAVORS

LOCAL INDUSTRIALIST Curt Carlson held an indoor-outdoor party at his home Saturday. Some guests were not prepared to go outside - and were provided with complimentary mink coats.

WHAT ABOUT ALBERT?

FORMER REDSKINS quarterback Joe Theismann may have had the quote of the week when he said: ''First of all, the word genius isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.'' . . . You know, Alfred's smarter brother.

FAMILY FEUD

THE BITTER Robbie family feud over control of the Miami Dolphins extended to the Super Bowl. Three members of the Robbie family - Deborah Olson, Diane Feinholz and Kevin Robbie - were refused admission into the Dolphins' owner suite at the Metrodome by the controllers of the club - Tim, Janet and Brian Robbie.